Chapter 56: The Question He Held On To

“…How have you been…?”

It took me a long while to calm the emotions that had been boiling over.

Calming down didn’t mean I was completely fine, but at least I was in a state where I could hold a conversation.

“Our hyung turned into a crybaby while we were apart.”

Jaeyul teased me, lightly tapping his chest, now damp from my tears.

I guess he’s right.

Even I couldn’t understand it.

I wasn’t someone who cried easily to begin with.

I hadn’t shed a single tear even when our parents passed away.

Maybe I was just too young and shocked back then, but even after witnessing countless deaths while working as a special-ability agent, I’d never cried.

Yet here I was, soaking his clothes with my tears.

“I-It’s not like that, okay?

That’s just a runny nose, not tears.”

“Oh, I see.

So my hyung can even cry through his eyes—impressive.”

That brat wiped beneath my eye with his thumb.

A leftover droplet of tears clung there, not fully wiped away.

…This punk’s gotten better with words over the past four years.

No—he’s gotten slicker somehow.

“Let’s move somewhere else first.

Isn’t this going to put you in trouble if we stay like this?”

“…You’re right.

Let’s talk later.

For now, let’s go to my place.”

“…Your place?”

“Yeah, my place.”

Jaeyul took my hand and led me across the alley, toward the back of the Special Ability Center, where a black SUV was parked.

His place.

Ah—of course Jaeyul would have a home.

I’d been wandering all over the country with no real place to settle, living on short-term rentals every time….

But just as I was about to get into the car, Jaeyul stopped me.

“…What are you doing, hyung?

Why are you getting into the driver’s seat?”

“Ah—ah…!

Right, it’s not my car….”

I’d reflexively reached for the steering wheel.

Jaeyul was already twenty-two—more than old enough to drive—but I’d still mistaken him for the eighteen-year-old kid in my head.

“Seatbelt.”

A long arm reached across my body from the driver’s seat, pulling the belt over me and fastening it himself.

A strange feeling washed over me.

Maybe because I wasn’t used to being taken care of like this—it felt embarrassingly unfamiliar.

“This is… kind of awkward.

I never thought I’d be riding in a car you’re driving, Jaeyul….”

The car pulled out smoothly and continued down the road with steady control.

It didn’t feel real—not metaphorically, but literally—that the kid I’d practically raised was now driving a car.

The large hand gripping the steering wheel and the arm beneath his jacket looked sturdier than before.

And his side profile, eyes fixed ahead, seemed sharper now that the baby fat had faded.

“What are you staring at?

Four years have passed—of course I’m not the Sun Jaeyul you remember.”

True enough.

The time Jaeyul and I spent together was barely five years.

Just a tiny fraction of his twenty-two-year life.

Just as thirteen-year-old Jaeyul had been very different from eighteen-year-old Jaeyul, the person beside me now was someone I knew less than I didn’t.

“Don’t feel too hurt about earlier.

There were too many eyes on us—I didn’t have a choice.”

“Huh?

Oh—hurt? No, not at all.

Thanks to you, I got out safely, didn’t I?”

Talking casually like this with Jaeyul only made my heart feel more uncomfortable.

Was it really okay for us to be chatting so lightly…?

After everything I’d done, acting like nothing had happened.

To hide the tightening feeling in my chest, I turned my gaze out the window.

“…You live here?”

“Yeah.”

The moment I stepped into the place Jaeyul called his home, my eyes widened.

The spacious entryway alone felt unusual, but the living room beyond the long hallway exceeded all expectations.

The interior leaned toward muted, monochrome tones, and even the living room was larger than our old house used to be.

The kitchen looked big enough for at least eight people to work in comfortably.

“…You’re making a lot of money now, huh….”

“It’s a rental.”

W-What…?

This—this luxury apartment with at least four rooms—was a rental?!

Smack!

“Sun Jaeyul!

Are you insane?

You live alone—why are you paying rent for a place like this?!

A decent jeonse place would’ve been more than enough!

Don’t you know how scary the world is?!”

Before I knew it, I’d smacked him on the back.

Honestly, I felt like hitting him again and again.

Anger at his recklessness made the scolding spill out automatically.

But the moment he pulled me into his arms, my mouth snapped shut.

“Now you really feel like my hyung again.

Getting angry, nagging like this—that’s Jin Sehyun.”

“Y-You… calling your hyung by name….

You want to get scolded more?”

Embarrassment hit me belatedly.

For a moment, I’d forgotten that I wasn’t really in a position to lecture him like this.

“I’m kidding.

I used the money you gave me, the salary from the academy, and what I earned after joining the center.

This is our place.”

Ah… thank god.

No matter how much he’d grown and left my arms, I didn’t want to see him wasting the money he earned through hardship.

Besides, Jaeyul had never been one for luxury, even as a kid.

He’d never let his meager allowance run out.

“…Okay, so… can you… let go….”

I tried to push him away, thinking he’d been clinging to me for an oddly long time, but he didn’t budge.

Jaeyul’s voice came from close to my ear.

“But, hyung.”

It was different from before.

Not the playful voice, not the warm tone he used when calling me hyung.

“Why did you abandon me?”

The voice was so low, so heavy with emotion, that my legs nearly gave out.

If Jaeyul hadn’t been holding me, they probably would have.

“Go on.

Make an excuse.

Give me an explanation.”

No—this wasn’t anger.

The emotion in his voice wasn’t rage.

This was… sadness.

He wanted an answer he’d never been able to find, no matter how many times he’d thought about it alone.

I gently grabbed his arm and pried him off me.

This was unavoidable, after all—running into him again like this.

But I had no idea how to explain it.

I couldn’t exactly say, It was to make you awaken as ‘X,’ strong enough to destroy the world.

“…I didn’t want to block your future.

Back then, the best thing for you was proper training at the academy—but I couldn’t stay with you.”

“And.”

“A-And… when I was around, you couldn’t control your abilities properly…

So I thought it would be better if I wasn’t there.

That way, you could become strong the way you wanted to….”

I take it back.

What I said about Jaeyul not being angry—that’s canceled.

The look he was giving me now was… terrifyingly intense.

It was different from the kid who used to listen quietly to my long lectures.

Facing the Jaeyul in front of me felt like facing ‘X’ himself.

Maybe… he really did grow up exactly the way I’d hoped.

“Anything else?”

“Huh?”

“Is that all?

Is that really the only reason you abandoned me?”

…Abandoned.

He’s not wrong.

I abandoned Sun Jaeyul.

Left a clueless child alone in a residence room and walked away.

With nothing but a pitiful amount of money behind.

No matter the circumstances, that fact doesn’t change.

But hearing those words from his mouth sent a crushing wave of guilt through me.

“…Uh….”

I didn’t want to make excuses.

I couldn’t say that it hadn’t been an easy choice for me either, that I’d endured my own pain after leaving him behind.

That was a punishment the one at fault had to bear alone.

I braced myself, ready to endure whatever resentment or anger Jaeyul might unleash.

And then—

“Then that’s enough, hyung.

If that really is all, I don’t mind.”

Contrary to my expectations, Jaeyul was smiling.

I was taken aback by the expression I hadn’t anticipated.

Which part of my words had eased his heart…?

No matter how I replayed them, I couldn’t figure it out.

“I think the time we spent apart had its own meaning, too.

At least… it did for me.”

His large hand brushed my cheek.

Despite its size, his touch was surprisingly gentle.

But while his eyes were smiling, the pupils within—deep like an abyss—gave nothing away.

“Besides, how could we ever really part?

We’re… family, aren’t we?”

“…Huh…?”

Thump, thump, thump.

Looking closely into Jaeyul’s unfamiliar eyes, I realized it clearly.

He wasn’t the Jaeyul from four years ago.

This was closer to… ‘X.’

A gaze tinged with madness.

“Now that you’ve come back like this,

I’m going to live with you forever, hyung.”

His hand clamped around my chin.

“You feel the same, right?”

The grip on my chin tightened, his eyes sharpening as his lips curved into a smile.

“You have to.”

His hand forced my head to nod.

If I resisted with strength, my jaw would shatter—no doubt about it.

This is bad.

I think the kid might’ve grown up a little… dangerously.